'Body snatcher' dying of cancer, says lawyer

A US man jailed for stealing bones and organs from hundreds of corpses and selling them for profit is dying of bone cancer in prison, his lawyer says.

Michael Mastromarino, 49, was sentenced to between 18 and 54 years in jail in 2008 after admitting to looting the remains of the dead without the permission of their families and profiting from harvesting organs, the New York Daily News reports.

But the former oral surgeon's lawyer said Mastromarino is now suffering bone cancer and is close to death.

He was reportedly given his last rites by a priest two weeks ago.

Mastromarino was believed to be the ring-leader of a group responsible for stealing bones and tissue from dead bodies between 2000 and 2005 and selling them to companies which sold them to hospitals for transplants.

Some of the parts were infected with diseases including AIDS and hepatitis, causing immense anguish for organ recipients when news of the scam broke.

Victims’ family members said there was irony in Mastromarino’s illness.